Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] I have a question was: Sandra, I see part of your point
[email protected]
In a message dated 05/19/2001 10:15:07 PM !!!First Boot!!!, parrishml@...
writes:
did things (including unschooling) the same exact way or to some standard,
that wouldn't be very real, would it.
Some are more or less un -- I am personally OK with that -- but you really
don't need me to be OK with it -- or anyone else.
My 2 cents.
My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I am curious
because of another conversation I have been having -- how many of you never
sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? I sent my son
(pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing. I am
wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, the awareness,
the ????? to go straight into hsing.
Nance
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
writes:
> . And I'm confused.That's OK. There doesn't actually have to be an answer, you see. If we all
>
> Laura
>
>
did things (including unschooling) the same exact way or to some standard,
that wouldn't be very real, would it.
Some are more or less un -- I am personally OK with that -- but you really
don't need me to be OK with it -- or anyone else.
My 2 cents.
My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I am curious
because of another conversation I have been having -- how many of you never
sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? I sent my son
(pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing. I am
wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, the awareness,
the ????? to go straight into hsing.
Nance
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
My kids have never been in school. My oldest will be 11 years next
month ... so I've been doing this roughly 7 years.
The reason my husband and I chose to homeschool isn't because of one
issue:
1. My daughter had a very profound autistic-like response to
strangers when she was very young. She was reading at three and was
exceptionally bright in other areas as well. Her cognitive skills
were above average and she was tall for her age. She is also very
pretty ... her father is Latin and she takes after him in skin tone,
hair coloring, and some other features. The issue was that while she
wasn't shy with family and people she knew well, too many people in
the room or strangers elicited a very profound response from her.
She appeared to completely shut down --- no facial expression,
unfocused eyes, completely still physically, would stop in midstride
or in the middle of whatever she was doing. We decided that it would
have been too traumatic to put her in school until she outgrew this.
And, she did outgrow it by the time she was six ... but in Florida,
kindergarten in mandatory and she would have had to go to school when
she was five years. We have since found out that many children who
show "giftedness" at an early age also deal with sensory overload
issues ... this can come out in hyperness, tics, etc. My daughter's
case was extreme but she did outgrow it with no problems.
2. At the time we could not afford private school and the public
school where she would have attended was (and is) one of the worst in
the district.
3. While I am a product of public school, my husband is a product of
private school. His opinion is that most kids that attend private
schools are the ones that couldn't make it in public school or got
expelled. Now my opinion isn't that radical, but spouses must
compromise. So, even though we could now afford to send the children
to private school, it is our opinion ... reviewed often ... that they
are best educated at home.
I've added reasons over the years ... anyone in Florida knows the sad
state of our school system. And living in the Bay area we also deal
with issues of random and daily violence, rape (even in middle
schools), drugs, gangs, teen pregnancy, etc. Not every school is
bad, not every publicly schooled kid is warped ... I'm just not
willing to subject my kids to the possibility of them coming into one
of these situations until they have the emotional grounding to be
able to face it.
There are also issues of governmental interference with parental
rights and what is being taught in today's classrooms ... with and
without parental consent.
Kathy
month ... so I've been doing this roughly 7 years.
The reason my husband and I chose to homeschool isn't because of one
issue:
1. My daughter had a very profound autistic-like response to
strangers when she was very young. She was reading at three and was
exceptionally bright in other areas as well. Her cognitive skills
were above average and she was tall for her age. She is also very
pretty ... her father is Latin and she takes after him in skin tone,
hair coloring, and some other features. The issue was that while she
wasn't shy with family and people she knew well, too many people in
the room or strangers elicited a very profound response from her.
She appeared to completely shut down --- no facial expression,
unfocused eyes, completely still physically, would stop in midstride
or in the middle of whatever she was doing. We decided that it would
have been too traumatic to put her in school until she outgrew this.
And, she did outgrow it by the time she was six ... but in Florida,
kindergarten in mandatory and she would have had to go to school when
she was five years. We have since found out that many children who
show "giftedness" at an early age also deal with sensory overload
issues ... this can come out in hyperness, tics, etc. My daughter's
case was extreme but she did outgrow it with no problems.
2. At the time we could not afford private school and the public
school where she would have attended was (and is) one of the worst in
the district.
3. While I am a product of public school, my husband is a product of
private school. His opinion is that most kids that attend private
schools are the ones that couldn't make it in public school or got
expelled. Now my opinion isn't that radical, but spouses must
compromise. So, even though we could now afford to send the children
to private school, it is our opinion ... reviewed often ... that they
are best educated at home.
I've added reasons over the years ... anyone in Florida knows the sad
state of our school system. And living in the Bay area we also deal
with issues of random and daily violence, rape (even in middle
schools), drugs, gangs, teen pregnancy, etc. Not every school is
bad, not every publicly schooled kid is warped ... I'm just not
willing to subject my kids to the possibility of them coming into one
of these situations until they have the emotional grounding to be
able to face it.
There are also issues of governmental interference with parental
rights and what is being taught in today's classrooms ... with and
without parental consent.
Kathy
--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., marbleface@a... wrote:
> In a message dated 05/19/2001 10:15:07 PM !!!First Boot!!!,
parrishml@a...
> writes:
>
>
> > . And I'm confused.
> >
> > Laura
> >
> >
>
>
> That's OK. There doesn't actually have to be an answer, you see.
If we all
> did things (including unschooling) the same exact way or to some
standard,
> that wouldn't be very real, would it.
>
> Some are more or less un -- I am personally OK with that -- but you
really
> don't need me to be OK with it -- or anyone else.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I am
curious
> because of another conversation I have been having -- how many of
you never
> sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? I
sent my son
> (pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing.
I am
> wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, the
awareness,
> the ????? to go straight into hsing.
>
> Nance
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Angela
I sent my oldest dd to 3 nursery school classes, then I jumped into home
schooling with both feet. (She is a nursery school drop out and proud of it!
LOL) She would be in Kindergarten this year and I am so thankful that I
discovered homeschooling/unschooling before I sent her. I had been reading
about home schooling but figured that I would try kindergarten first and if
it didn't work out, I would bring her home. After the reality check of
nursery school where I thought I would be preparing her to be able to leave
me a bit easier,(NOT) I realized that I could unschool her and if that
didn't work out, I could always send her to school. I haven't looked back
and I can't imagine her ever wanting to go to school, but if she does, we
will deal with it then. I too think school is toxic and she would have to
have some pretty good reasons to want to go and be at an age where I felt
she could make an informed decision about it.
And like Kathy, my oldest daughter is extremely bright and shy and I know
with absolute certainty that she would be bored in school. When you enter
kindergarten reading at a fourth grade level what do you do when the kids
are learning the letter A in January? I am certain they wouldn't even
address the issue and Leigh is so shy in group settings that she certainly
wouldn't shine and be the teachers pet.
Angela in Maine
Unschooling mom to two beautiful daughters.
www.geocities.com/autonomousangela
My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I am curious
because of another conversation I have been having -- how many of you
never
sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? I sent my
son
(pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing. I am
wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, the
awareness,
the ????? to go straight into hsing.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
schooling with both feet. (She is a nursery school drop out and proud of it!
LOL) She would be in Kindergarten this year and I am so thankful that I
discovered homeschooling/unschooling before I sent her. I had been reading
about home schooling but figured that I would try kindergarten first and if
it didn't work out, I would bring her home. After the reality check of
nursery school where I thought I would be preparing her to be able to leave
me a bit easier,(NOT) I realized that I could unschool her and if that
didn't work out, I could always send her to school. I haven't looked back
and I can't imagine her ever wanting to go to school, but if she does, we
will deal with it then. I too think school is toxic and she would have to
have some pretty good reasons to want to go and be at an age where I felt
she could make an informed decision about it.
And like Kathy, my oldest daughter is extremely bright and shy and I know
with absolute certainty that she would be bored in school. When you enter
kindergarten reading at a fourth grade level what do you do when the kids
are learning the letter A in January? I am certain they wouldn't even
address the issue and Leigh is so shy in group settings that she certainly
wouldn't shine and be the teachers pet.
Angela in Maine
Unschooling mom to two beautiful daughters.
www.geocities.com/autonomousangela
My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I am curious
because of another conversation I have been having -- how many of you
never
sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? I sent my
son
(pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing. I am
wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, the
awareness,
the ????? to go straight into hsing.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/19/01 5:49:40 PM, marbleface@... writes:
<< My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I am curious
because of another conversation I have been having -- how many of you never
sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? I sent my son
(pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing. I am
wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, the awareness,
the ????? to go straight into hsing. >>
None of mine went to school. I had information from La Leche League friends
about the current state of homeschooling, and I read all I could find, being
an info junkie. I had started off (before I had kids) opposed, because I was
a teacher, and I talked my cousin (my age) out of homeschooling when she
first mentioned she might. Because of that (she eventually had five kids and
all went to school until the last coulple were given the option to leave as
young teens) I've worked to help others have the nerve, the info, emp
owerment, awareness, local contacts and ready-defenses for relatives so that
other kids don't have to "try school" first or for as long.
For my efforts sometimes I am flamed horribly by people who are clinging to
structure and arbitrary disciplines about 'doing school work' or whatever.
--I could stop for my own comfort and prevent attacks by people I don't know.
--I could wimp out and give unschooling-lite information to appease those who
will come to the forum or this list for a couple or six months looking for a
little info before they move along.
--I could say "Oh, that makes sense" when peole say "We'll unschool science
and history, but we can't risk reading or math, so we're using a curriculum."
But I don't.
People waste time and money trying NOT to unschool when they can unschool for
free. The same way Nestle makes more money off formula than LLL makes off
giving out free breastfeeding information, people wanting to sell stuff to
homeschoolers are WAY more pushy than those offering free information on how
to do it for free.
Sandra
<< My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I am curious
because of another conversation I have been having -- how many of you never
sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? I sent my son
(pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing. I am
wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, the awareness,
the ????? to go straight into hsing. >>
None of mine went to school. I had information from La Leche League friends
about the current state of homeschooling, and I read all I could find, being
an info junkie. I had started off (before I had kids) opposed, because I was
a teacher, and I talked my cousin (my age) out of homeschooling when she
first mentioned she might. Because of that (she eventually had five kids and
all went to school until the last coulple were given the option to leave as
young teens) I've worked to help others have the nerve, the info, emp
owerment, awareness, local contacts and ready-defenses for relatives so that
other kids don't have to "try school" first or for as long.
For my efforts sometimes I am flamed horribly by people who are clinging to
structure and arbitrary disciplines about 'doing school work' or whatever.
--I could stop for my own comfort and prevent attacks by people I don't know.
--I could wimp out and give unschooling-lite information to appease those who
will come to the forum or this list for a couple or six months looking for a
little info before they move along.
--I could say "Oh, that makes sense" when peole say "We'll unschool science
and history, but we can't risk reading or math, so we're using a curriculum."
But I don't.
People waste time and money trying NOT to unschool when they can unschool for
free. The same way Nestle makes more money off formula than LLL makes off
giving out free breastfeeding information, people wanting to sell stuff to
homeschoolers are WAY more pushy than those offering free information on how
to do it for free.
Sandra
[email protected]
> My question -- unrelated to any of this -- or who knows?? -- I amcurious
> because of another conversation I have been having -- how many ofyou never
> sent your kiddos to school and why did you make that decision? Isent my son
> (pre-K and 7 months of K) then learned about ps and started hsing.I am
> wondering how people get the nerve, the info, the empowerment, theawareness,
> the ????? to go straight into hsing.Our kiddos will never go to school, unless/until they choose to do so
>
> Nance
in the future. As to how we came to "the nerve, the info, the
empowerment, the awareness, the ????? " to do so, I'd just say that I
used to have a "Question Authority" sticker on my guitar case, and I
guess I just never stopped doing just that. When I became pregnant
with our first child, we started looking at the status quo (hospital
birth, immediate vaccinations, circumcision, bottle feeding, cry-it-
out, authoritarian parenting, daycare and then public school) and
just decided to take another road. One thing led to another on that
road, and here we are unschooling or just living life and learning
from it.
Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family